Greenwashing

The Wall Street Journal ran a fascinating piece a couple of weeks ago on the emergence of the reusable bag as the go-to green choice of retailers nationwide – and the eco-disaster these bags represent.
A lot of leading retailers offer reusable bags – they’re the hip new green thing to be doing…and some municipalities (San Francisco) and retailers (Ikea) have taken the initiative to forbid the use of the ubiquitous “disposable” plastic bag.

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A few weeks ago the Dow Chemical Company released its 2007 Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Report with UN Global Compact Communication on Progress. The report received an “A+” from the GRI, the first time in the five years Dow since reporting began. The report states that the vision of the company is to be [...]

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There’s nothing like Green to attract Green. In this case, the just concluded AlwaysOn Going Green 2008 Conference attracted a slew of VC and Biz Dev money looking to invest their portfolios in green tech. The summit as a whole brought together serious money looking for innovative ideas but to say that all the ideas [...]

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The video below is the funniest propaganda I’ve seen since the infamous “CO2, We call it life” shenegins a couple years ago. It’s almost as good as something you might see on The Onion. In case you’re wondering what’s wrong with this picture, read on.

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The next generation Toyota Prius , due out for the 2010 model year, will offer the option of rooftop solar panels . Produced by Kyocera, the panels are expected to produce no more than about 1 kilowat…

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IBM made a respectable but surprising move when it sold off its PC hardware business in 2004 to focus on higher margin services such as consulting. In July, the information technology company even added corporate social responsibility (CSR) to its consulting services lineup. Yet, for a company that is endeavoring to help its clients understand [...]

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Top Five green marketing events. If you´re a seasoned green marketing professional and would like to meet up with other pros, check out this top five of green marketing events around the globe.

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McDonald’s, the world-famous fast-food chain best known for its golden arches and Big Macs, bills itself as a leader “in environmental conservation.” A few weeks ago I walked into a McDonald’s restaurant for the first time in a year and ordered the new sweet tea drink. To my surprise the drink comes in a styrofoam [...]

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As the largest consumer and small business bank, BofA (NYSE: BAC) can have a major positive or negative impact on the environment. Since March, 2007, the bank has taken on a $20 billion initiative to “encourage environmentally friendly business activity” over the next decade. Applauded by some and criticized by others, just how green is [...]

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A recent column in Adweek addressing greenwashing in the advertising industry warns that if new regulations are being implemented to curb greenwashing this would negatively affect innovation in the industry…

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Is greenwashing really a disinformation campaign by corporations trying to win over the conscious consumer? Or is it just part of the “growing pains” of becoming a sustainable company? Joel Makower, of Greenbiz.com, thinks it’s the latter. He writes, “The rise of green marketing claims is a testament to how quickly being seen as green [...]

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As many consumers continue to question the impact of their bottled water guilty pleasures, somehow a company called the Water Bank of America is producing packaged water, “made from spring water drawn from the Vend√©e Region of France in the Massif Central.” Check out their website, complete with pictures of b-list celebrities and Ferraris, an [...]

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Every month when I see the magazine Seed in my mailbox I can’t wait to sit down and read it. This month I found a DVD inside the magazine with the oil company Shell’s short movie, Clearing the Air on it. My attention peaked, and I watched the movie. Clearing the Air is a fictional [...]

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As a longtime proponent of the power of blogging as a more democratic, open communications tool, I’ve always encouraged companies to get on the bandwagon. My reasoning is simple – by approaching the public with an honest voice and permitting commenting with no censorship, you ultimately get a more transparent, more useful conversation. If you [...]

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I’m as jaded as the next guy when it comes to companies touting their green chops but, on closer inspection, having little to back it up. But amidst the greenwashing/hyping of recent years, I’ve also been downright moved. If you think about, outdoor retailers are, or should be, leaders in the green/sustainable business community. Environmental [...]

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On Thursday, Rick Wagoner, Chairman and CEO of General Motors came to San Francisco to speak about the future of the company and “green” auto technology. It’s fascinating to think that not long ago, General Motors was a company beloved by most Americans, a symbol of the innovation, spirit, and the pleasant lifestyle typical of [...]

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The world’s major oil companies make big claims about the environment these days. From having sound environmental policies in place to investing in alternative fuel, the companies that provide the ‚ÄòTexas tea’ want us to believe they no longer wreak havoc on the environment. The advertisement for the British oil company BP says its initials [...]

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The UN’s Kyoto Protocol and Clean Development Mechanism, cap-and-trade greenhouse gas emissions trading systems – nothing but a con and the latest gambit by the international – predominantly Western – political, corporate and media elite to further enrich and secure themselves while doing less than nothing to address environmental degradation and climate change, claims New Delhi’s Centre for Science and Environment.

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Hot on the heels of their acquisition of Burt’s Bees, among the more respected “green” brands out there, Clorox has now partnered with the Sierra Club to launch a new line of products called “Green Works” which the Sierra Club will validate as “natural”. Both organizations joined together this morning at the New York Stock [...]

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In a sign that eco friendly shoes are moving out of the hemp, vegan, crunchy cliches and into the broader world is the newly released Nike Trash Talk shoe. Nike themselves have had a sustainably made shoe line called Considered, that, while a great effort, stayed firmly in the brown shoe, casual segment, not touching [...]

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Public skepticism and mistrust of businesses’ efforts to “go green” not only pose problems for corporations making honest, substantive efforts to do so, they pose significant obstacles for the type of local-to-globally coordinated efforts necessary to mitigate climate change and enhance energy security. Bridging this credibility gap was the subject of a recent GreenPepper “Eco-Concerns” survey.

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Green certification programs such as the Green Council’s EPEAT are an effective means of getting past organizational greenwash…Even more importantly, they’re making an increasing, positive impact on electronics recycling volumes and practices. Individual consumers need to help shoulder the burden, however, and OEMs can do more to make it easier to recycle and reuse products and parts.

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America’s “Toxic 10,” a special report put out by Conde Nast portfolio.com, demonstrates that we have entered a new realm of corporate environmental governance. We frequently read headlines that highlight corporate sustainability initiatives, like “Ford’s New Green Roof Initiative” or “Boeing’s New Fuel-Efficient Airplanes.” But the sad reality is that corporate giants, by and large, [...]

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Greenwash is a new addition to the English lexicon and a practice that offers businesses a potentially quick and high return. Those are likely to turn out to be ephemeral, and even damaging, not only to practitioners but to other organizations intent on making honest efforts to address greenhouse gas emissions, climate change and environmental degradation.

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Back in December I wrote about the upcoming launch of a Greenwashing Index website from EnviroMedia in partnership with University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication. The site is now live and I’ve just spent some time taking a look at what they’ve accomplished. In their own words, the goal of the index is to: Help consumers [...]

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Green goes under ground, six feet under and currently being spear-headed in Oregon by and environmentally-friendly funeral products dealer by the name of Cynthia Beal. She is the founder of The Natural Burial Co. in Portland, Oregon, the healthy way to recycle yourself and your casket upon taking the inevitable dirt nap. Cynthia herself wishes [...]

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A couple of news items I’ve come across lately regarding green consumers and the marketers that market to them: First is a recent Forrestor Research study entitled “In Search of Green Technology Consumers” that find an increase in consumers the profess an active concern for the environment and a willingness to spend extra for green products from an [...]

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It’s all “green this” or “ all natural that” these days, but according to Scott McDougall, president of TerraChoice Environmental Marketing, chances are it’s all a bunch of hooey. A 99% chance to be exact. McDougall’s TerraChoice conducted a study called “The Six Sins of Greenwashing” in which over a thousand common household products were randomly surveyed, [...]

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Amid the stock market turmoil last week, an interesting event took place in the market’s valuation of sustainability. If I were shopping for corporations, on Friday, I could have purchased one share of either Whole Foods Market or Walmart for $43.40. and today, I could have purchased either for $46.00. And if I had wanted [...]

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Some interesting newspaper articles about “Greenwash” have appeared in the Cape Town press in recent weeks, including one in October’s “Street Trade, Not Aid” motivated The Big Issue, which is sold on the streets by formerly unemployed and often homeless hawkers. Cape Town columnist Quentin Wray in his October 5 Business Watch column questions the [...]

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